Salamander
by Death Nova
Summary: [AU] After losing the one he called his father, he has resolved to become strong in order to protect himself and those precious to him. Even if succeeding means he has to suffer.
1. The Meeting

**Sup, Nova here. I'm pretty sure I've disappointed you guys on my last story, yeah? About that, I thought that the story was leading nowhere and yeah, I got off to a bad start on that one.**

**Anyways, this here is my new story, Salamander, yeah. I'll be releasing chapters once a month, and on some occasions, twice or thrice.**

**And by comparing this one to the other, I might say that my writing style has changed a bit drastically. Better, I might add… in my opinion. You judge.**

**Chapter 1: The Meeting**

"**Who goes there?"** startled, he looked around frantically.

The sound… voice, he corrected himself, was coming from outside. He wasn't sure whether that was a question or a demand, hell, it all sounded alike to him anyways.

Bright light invaded his eyes as he stumbled out of the forest and into a vast clearing. He didn't even know how he survived in that hell-hole; there had been almost nothing to eat, and to make things worse, he was also food in the foreign territory.

Though he wondered why there were no predators near this place. It was like there was something… big.

His eyes widened and thoughts skidded to a halt as soon as his eyes readjusted to the light.

…Much bigger then, or was it enormous? Colossal? Giant? What does colossal mean anyway?

Being the frail… not so frail child he was, the creature still intimidated him.

"**Answer my question, human…"** It said, turning to look towards him. **"Not that it matters to me. Leave now and never return. Unless it is death you want."**

"I-I… Nat-su." His voice came out as a pitiful squeak. He hated how his voice sounded weak. He hated being weak.

Wanted to be strong, to be confident, but most of all, to be able to protect himself, and people precious to him, if he were even to have any more.

**-Flashback-**

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_A dying scream resounding from a house blended in with the harsh roar of the storm._

"_Heh, and the man didn't even last long. What a waste! Prepare to die kid." a gruff, malicious voice said, coming from the figure slowly nearing towards him._

"_NO! NO! You… Tou-san! Tou-san!" his voice cried._

_Realizing that he was next, he jumped out the window not caring about the shards of glass penetrating his skin as he sprinted away, tears mixing with the raindrops pouring._

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**-End Flashback-**

The man had been his surrogate father, after being found on the doorstep of his house. He cared for him like his own and protected him.

In the end, he still did, but in doing it, he lost his life to a rouge mage and that was almost 2 months ago. Though he was glad that the criminal didn't bother following him; he probably didn't care.

During those 2 months he had lived alone, lost in the very forest which he had escaped into.

He would be strong. He would stand up to this… monstrosity of a creature. He would lock away those petty emotions and become… stronger? He shrugged.

"My name is Natsu." He repeated firmly.

"**Why are you here, boy?" **the creature asked.

"I want to become strong." He said, voice filled with determination.

"**And why is that?"** it asked.

"I want to protect myself and people precious to me." He said with finality.

"**Very well, I see you speak the truth. Might as well get myself an apprentice."** It said, as its body slowly began to shrink. Its claws shortened, and wings receded.

He'd be damned if he didn't take one under his wing. After all, some of the other dragons had already taken humans under their tutelage. His apprentice would beat all of theirs. He was the 'Great Fire Dragon Igneel' after all.

The creature became a knight with crimson, spiky, long hair that flowed on his back and reached his waist.

He wore red armor in which the chest part was golden and a white scarf made of scales. He also had a broadsword strapped to his back which the details he could not make out because of the worn-out bandages that covered it whole.

"That is, if you can prove it to me." The now-revealed knight said.

"How did you… Was that even you at all?" he asked, still awestruck.

"Yes, boy, and this is my human form." He answered the curious boy.

"And that was…?" he asked yet again.

"My original form… as a dragon. Now stop asking questions and step forward." He responded, clearly irritated.

Dragon? Ah, so it was that giant… thing. Shaking his head, Natsu did as he was told and stepped forward. The knight held out his hand and crimson fire seeped out of his gauntlet and formed into a ball.

"Accept it." He said, kneeling down to the boy's level and held his hand near him.

He slowly and hesitantly reached out, only to feel no heat from the fire. But as soon as his fingers made contact with it, the fire transferred to his hand and slowly spread throughout his body, and much to his absolute shock, not even making a single singe on him.

Suddenly, his body absorbed all the fire around him and he grew dizzy. "Wh-what is happening to me?" he staggered around the clearing like a drunkard when he finally blacked out.

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Pain.

Immense and extreme pain which enveloped his entire being. It was the worst pain he had ever felt in his entire life.

His body's protests were left unheard as he slowly opened his eyes but to his shock, he saw nothing but small traces of light.

What happened to his eyes? Where was he anyways? Where was Tou-san?

Then it all came back to him like a brick to the head. Father. Forest. Danger. Dragon. Fire.

He groaned, though it came out gritty as his lungs were sore, like they were burned and his throat was dry. To his relief, the terrible pain had been reduced to an aching sensation.

"Rest." A voice told him, echoing.

Echo. He deduced that he was in a large, close room. Probably a cave.

"Wh-what happened? I can't see." He asked worriedly.

"To simply put it, I improved you… and your eyes too. And about not seeing, they're covered." The voice replied.

Wait, what? He slowly reached out to his face, finding it difficult to perform the action, but still doing it. He didn't even feel anything on his… oh. A cloth. Maybe he was just too caught up in the situation that he didn't notice.

"Can I remove it?" he asked.

"No, not yet, but soon. Your body still needs to adjust to the new eyes. For now, you must rest." The voice answered him.

"New eyes?" he asked yet again.

There was no response.

He could make out the fire cackling and making small pops. Also that creepy ambience in the background.

Mentally shrugging, he relaxed his body and closed his eyes. Exhaustion soon came upon him and he fell into a blissful and much-needed sleep.

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**Would someone be kind enough to leave your dear friend Nova some reviews, yeah? Yeah? Thanks a lot!**

**Well, if not, ummm… still, thanks for reading… I guess. Yeah.**

**As an afterthought, should I receive any at all, I'll be answering them in Author's Notes, yeah.**


	2. Training Starts Now!

**Hey guys what's up? I'm back! Don't mind the name change though, 1 year does a lot to you. So anyways I've decided on working on this story first, since I've had a lot of ideas and I want to get working ASAP.  
**

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**Chapter 2: Training starts now!**

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Natsu jerked awake to the sound of rocks falling down that echoed throughout the cave and jumped quickly on his feet. He noticed that the cloth that covered his face was already removed.

Not so far ahead, he could see the entrance of the cave, but not for long as he could see a figure half-way through destroying it with a large sword.

"Training starts now! Find a way out and I will deem you worthy of my teaching." The figure said.

By now, the roof of the entrance had already fallen and was blocked, leaving him inside and the figure outside.

He could see some light going through spaces between the rocks. But he knew he couldn't escape from there. The rocks were more like boulders and having survived 2 months in a forest, he didn't get enough food to keep him healthy, only enough to keep him alive.

He finally had time to look around him. He was astonished.

He could see every detail there was. The moss on the jagged walls of the cave, the water droplets dripping from a crack above, that tiny ant searching for food 3 meters away- it was red, by the way, everything!

He then remembered- _"…Your body still needs to adjust to the new eyes…" _as the voice said.

He quickly rushed to a nearby water puddle and knelt near it. Looking down, he looked at his reflection, especially his eyes- they were very different.

He could remember that his eyes were charcoal-black, but now they were crimson, with a fine vertical line for an iris. He'd only seen these kinds of eyes on reptiles. But that couldn't be possible, he was human after all. Then again, he'd seen a dragon transform into a human, anything could be possible.

Looking ahead of the reflection, he couldn't see a bottom. Turns out the "puddle" was not actually a puddle, but a deep hole filled with water. He had no idea where it led, but it could have been a way out.

He could always come back if it was a dead end, or could he? The hole was pitch-black. What if he'd lost his way? What if he had gone too far and would drown? He sighed. He'd take the risk.

He took a very deep breath and dove head-first into the water. Five seconds into swimming, his eyesight started to change. He could see clearer now. Sure, it was still dark, but the point was that he could see.

He swam down further, careful to keep away from the sharp, jagged edges of the rocks that stood out of the dirt walls.

A few feet further down, he could see the bottom, a very old, broken ladder, and a big wooden door on one side of the wall.

He swam towards it and gripped the handle, pulling it in hopes of opening it. It wouldn't budge because of the pressure.

He had run out of breath already.

He pulled once more, this time, with all his might. He heard a creaking sound and the door started to move. He pulled on, and it finally opened, but he was sucked in because apparently, there was no water inside. The door closed as soon as he got in because of the force of the rushing water.

He coughed out loudly, expelling some water he breathed in. Standing up, he checked out his surroundings. He realized that he got swept into a tunnel, a dirt tunnel. This was probably a mine. Not too far ahead, he could make out some luminance, it was probably the way out!

He started running towards the light, though still careful of his steps. He noticed he was no longer running on dirt but on wood, flimsy old wood at that.

Suddenly, one he stepped on was apparently too old and gave way, he retracted his right leg just in time, but it got caught by a sharp piece of wood slicing a long gash on that leg, though rolling forward to "safety".

He seethed in pain, as the wound bled, but still stood up, directing most of his weight on his left foot. Ignoring the blood staining his entire foot, he limped quickly towards the now-brighter light.

A minute more of traversing on fragile wood, and he could already see outside the tunnel. He squinted his eyes due to the bright light, to which his eyes quickly adjusted to. He was nearing the opening.

"Woah!" he exclaimed, holding on to the wooden frame of the opening. He looked down at a hundred-foot drop. He could see the figure, sitting down near the river below, looking at him with calm eyes. Oh wait, it was that armored guy with red hair.

Natsu looked at the man in the eyes, as if asking what to do. The man simply motioned his head downward at the lake. Which definitely meant… He sighed. Could this day get any worse?

He took a deep breath. Looking around for any alternative ways, he realized there was none. He would have to jump.

He didn't have too much fear of heights. He just had a fear of dying.

The river was directly below him. He wouldn't have trouble diving. And so he dove.

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**Review? Till next time.**

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**Natsu is Awesome- pairings will be decided later on as the story progresses. I like being mysterious.**

**AaronTokyoGhoul- I don't know man. I'll just... write what I can. I swear I'm not being lazy :3**


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